Valentine's Day
by Reluctant Princess
Summary: Emma tries to avoid Valentine's Day festivities. One Shot. Fluff.


"Do you have any plans for Valentine's day?" Mary Margaret asked.

Emma looked up from her brother, who was happily squirming around on his tummy. "Just work, what time do you need me?"

"What?" Her mother gave her a questioning look.

"I'm assuming you want to go out," Emma said, "so you need me to babysit, right?"

Mary Margaret started laughing, "No," she explained, "I wanted to know if you needed a babysitter. Your father and I are just spending it at home."

"Why would I need a babysitter?" Emma asked, though she knew what her mother was getting at.

"I know Henry is pretty capable of caring for himself," she said, "but I thought maybe you and Hook-"

"No plans," Emma cut her off. Valentine's Day was something she avoided and on the rare occasion she _did_ celebrate, it usually wound up in a disaster.

"He loves holidays though," Mary Margaret said, "you remember Christmas, don't you?"

Emma laughed, remembering _several_ holidays that were firsts for him. Hook seemed to enjoy learning the traditions of this realm. It was like watching a kid discovering a new toy. Between holidays and technology, Emma knew that Hook would never care to leave this newer, more exciting land. "Let's just not tell him about this one," she finally said, "I've never really been a fan."

"He'll find out," Mary Margaret grinned, "if he doesn't hear about it at work, he'll hear about it from Henry. Or, he'll see something and ask about it."

Hook's curiosity was always a challenge, but Emma figured sappy holidays didn't come up in conversation much down at the docks. At least, she hoped the subject didn't come up much. "I've broken up with people to avoid it," Emma admitted.

"You wouldn't!" Mary Margaret shouted.

"Of course I wouldn't!" Emma insisted, "I'm just saying I've taken some pretty extreme measures to avoid it."

"Okay," Mary Margaret sighed, "but we'll be here if you change your mind."

"I won't have to if you keep quiet," Emma said.

"Still, you know your son," Mary Margaret reminded her, "You might want to get a card at least. Just in case."

* * *

Hook frowned as he mulled over the information Henry had just given him. "So, you're saying there's a whole holiday dedicated to love?"

"I think it has roots in mythology somewhere," Henry shrugged, "just like everything else."

"What do people do for this holiday?" He asked.

"I'm twelve," Henry reminded him, "I just discovered that girls don't have cooties."

"What are those?" Hook asked, wide eyed.

Henry laughed, "Nothing. It's a made up thing that kids are afraid of."

"Okay," he nodded, "so, you know about this holiday, but have never celebrated it. Surely, you've witnessed a celebration or two?" When Henry shook his head, Hook was both disappointed and relieved.

"I have an idea," Henry said, "we have a few days, so let's check out the internet. There are a ton of movies all about stuff like that, so I'm sure you can get an idea."

"You must be talking about the movies your grandfather calls 'chick flicks'," Hook wrinkled his nose, "they sound terrible. Besides, your mother hasn't mentioned anything about this holiday and you make it sound as if she's never bothered with it. What makes you think she wants to celebrate it now?"

"She has you," Henry said, "and according to the movies, women _never_ remind the guy about _anything_. Especially birthdays, anniversaries and holidays. That way, they can get mad when you forget."

"I haven't forgotten anything important yet, have I?" Women in this realm seemed to have an awful lot of ways to get angry at a man. Granted, driving men crazy was something they were all good at, but there just seemed to be so many more ways to do so in this place.

"She would let you know," Henry said, "sort of. First, they just give you the silent treatment. That's when you have to figure out what you did wrong. Because if it moves to step two, where she _tells_ you what you did wrong, you sleep on the couch."

"Your mother doesn't seem to be that complicated," Hook said, "but I think if I bring attention to something she'd rather ignore, I may never hear the end of it."

"She needs this," Henry insisted, "you don't have to go over the top, but _something_ will let her know you're thinking about her. Don't let her complain to her friends about how you completely blew her off. Then, you'll need to apologize until you're blue in the face and even then, you'll probably sleep on the couch."

"Let's look at the internet," Hook said, "I think the google is the site we need, right?"

With a laugh, Henry took out his phone, "yeah, but like I've told you before, it's just 'google'."

"Whatever," Hook rolled his eyes, "you do the google thing and I'll just watch."

* * *

A card wouldn't do. Not if Henry had talked to Hook. She knew for a fact that her son would have him searching the internet for all sorts of crazy ideas. A knot formed in her stomach as she thought about the million things that could go wrong.

"Emma!" The sound of Hook's voice caused her to snap out of her trance. He ran up to her and pulled her into a tight hug, "what are you doing down here?"

Despite the fact that he had ditched the pirate garb for more modern clothing and hadn't been out to sea since he'd traded the Jolly Roger, the familiar scent of leather and ocean still clung to him. Emma secretly hoped that never changed. She made sure to grab him a new leather coat for Christmas to help keep that particular dream alive.

"Emma?" He asked again.

"Sorry," she pulled away, "I got a call from the tackle shop. I have to go. See you at home?"

"Aye," he nodded, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek. She gave him a smile and then took off towards the tackle shop.

Home. It was a place he knew she had spent a long time looking for. Now that home included him, despite the fact that he'd almost burned it down a couple times. He laughed as he recalled Henry's brilliant idea to cook something for the upcoming holiday. Part of him wondered if the end result would bring the fire department over to join them. Still, after hours of searching the internet, Hook had to admit it was one of the least over the top ideas and would be the one least likely to have him sleeping on the couch.

"So?" David pried, "any plans tonight? We're still able to babysit"

Emma rolled her eyes, "It's okay. Still don't have plans." She shuffled through some papers on her desk, attempting to look busy so David would drop the subject.

"You sound disappointed," he snickered.

"And you sound nosy," she returned, "I'm not disappointed at all. Why don't you two go out and I'll babysit."

"We were just planning on staying at home and watching some television," David said, "we already did the whole gift thing."

"How romantic," Emma rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Says the woman who's ignoring the day altogether," David raised an eyebrow, "is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Emma said, "stop prying. Everything's fine. I'm not ignoring it completely. I got him a little something just in case Henry talked his ear off."

"My grandson, the hopeless romantic," David shook his head.

"Hello?" A voice sounded from the doorway, "Sheriff Swan?"

David and Emma looked up to see who was coming into the station and saw a young man carrying a rather large floral arrangement. "Right here, kid," Emma said, hoping she wasn't blushing. _No way are those for me,_ she thought as she tried not to make eye contact with her father. The delivery guy put the vase on the desk and handed Emma a card before he left. "Thanks," she said with an embarrassed grin.

"Do you need a sitter now?" David smirked.

"Shut up," Emma shot back. She opened the card and kept quiet for a few minutes as she read through it. "Yeah," she finally said slowly, "I'm gonna need that sitter now."

"Good!" David exclaimed, "I'll text Henry now."

* * *

"I can't believe you almost burned the apartment down," Emma laughed, "again." She had arrived home to find Hook armed with a fire extinguisher, "What were you thinking?"

"Are you mad?" He asked, "If you're mad, just remember, it was Henry's idea."

"I'm not mad," she smiled.

"We should probably get pizza instead." He said, "I'm not sure how well that goes with wine..."

"Pizza and wine sounds perfect," she said, "we should take it to go."

"To go?"

"Yeah," Emma picked up the bottle of wine, "the sun's about to set and there's a pretty good view down at the docks."

"Well," he grinned, "we shouldn't waste any more time here."

After picking up a pizza, Emma and Hook made their way to the docks. The sun was just beginning its descent when they arrived. "We should get a better view," Emma decided, "Wanna go for a joy ride?"

"If by joy ride, you mean commandeer one of these vessels," he frowned, "I'd rather not get arrested."

"Come on pirate, where's your sense of adventure?" she teased, "we're only borrowing. Plus, you're with the sheriff. Who's going to arrest us?"

"What if the owner decides to go out for a late night cruise?" He asked, "How do you plan on smoothing that over?"

"Pizza's getting cold," she stated, "we'll be fine."

Hook watched as she made her way onto one of the boats. With a groan, he realized she wasn't going for one of the smaller rentals, she was going for someone's personal craft. Someone who very likely could be on board, just below deck. Against his better judgment, he followed her. "If you're serious about this," he warned, "we have to return it in the same condition we found it." He did a quick look around to make sure no one was on board.

"We'll be fine," Emma assure him again, "I know it's more modern than what you're used to, but you've been working with the rentals, right?"

"I know how these contraptions work, yes." He stated, "are you sure you want to do this?"

"Are you going to take us out or not?" She asked playfully, "start her up, captain!"

Hook grinned, "If the lady insists..."

"Oh," Emma laughed, "she insists."

The vessel roared to life and they were on their way. "We aren't going far," he said, "just enough for a good view. I still think jail time is a good possibility here."

Emma shook her head, "relax," she demanded as she looked out across the water. As a girl, she remembered watching from the shore as ships disappeared over the horizon, often wishing she could disappear with them.

"What's on your mind, love?" Hook asked as he brought them to a stop.

Emma sat on the floor and opened up the pizza. Hook joined her and took a slice, though he shot her a look, letting her know she couldn't avoid the question. "Do you ever miss it?"

"Miss what?"

"This," she said, "taking off and just being at sea. It was who you were for so long and now..."

"And now," he interrupted, "I have you. It was a fair trade. If I had the chance to do it again, I would make the same choice. No hesitation."

"But you don't miss it? Maybe even a little bit?" She asked.

"Of course I miss it," he said, "but not as much as you might think. My home is here and I would miss it, would miss _you, _far more than any ship."

"You have to admit though," she moved closer to him, "a captain without a ship is like a fish out of water."

"Maybe one day I'll claim another," he mused, "but I'm not going anywhere without my crew."

"Your crew?" She giggled, "Thought you ditched them?"

"My new crew," he grinned and set the remainder of his pizza down, "you and Henry." He wrapped his arm around her.

"And where would this crew travel?" She asked as she leaned into him and felt him rest his head on hers. "I mean, with such a small crew, we'd be at a disadvantage."

"We wouldn't have to go far," he said, "but we could go wherever we wish."

"Right now, I wish to go below deck," she said, "I haven't had you to myself in days."

"I think it's bad enough we stole the boat," he said, "now you want to go mess around in someone else's quarters?"

"Like you've never done any of this before," she taunted, "in the grand scheme of things, none of this is really all that bad." She didn't give him a chance to answer before she stood and walked off, disappearing below deck.

"Bloody hell," Hook muttered under his breath. Emma wasn't a typical woman, but she was still just as confusing as the rest of them. She was usually the voice of reason, yet now, here she was, back to her old reckless habits. He still worried about being caught, but damn if she wasn't good at leading him into temptation. Of course he'd follow her. She knew that and had been exploiting that particular weakness all night.

Emma frowned, wondering what was taking him so long. She had no desire to hang out in the small cabin by herself all night. Just as she was about to give up, she saw him climb down the stairs. "Took you long enough," she laughed.

Hook didn't say a word as he finished his descent, closing the gap between them, leaving Emma with no way to escape as he backed her into a wall.

"Glad to see you changed your mind," she whispered.

_This woman is going to be the end of me, _he thought. "Emma, what's gotten into you?"

"Nothing," she looked up at him and smiled, "I just wanted to have a little fun."

It was the same "I'm super sweet and innocent" look he got whenever she was ready to get into mischief. Mischief that was usually damn hard for him to resist. Not that he ever tried, but this time, they were both looking at some time behind bars. The last thing he wanted was get a criminal record in this realm. Her parents _definitely _wouldn't approve of him then. "Fun is one thing," he said, "but Emma, we stole a boat."

Emma just started laughing. Then she kissed him, and for a moment, he gave in to her madness.

"Wait," he pulled back, "Emma, we _have _to return this boat before someone misses it and reports it stolen."

Emma kept laughing, "You can't steal your own boat, Killian."

"What?" He asked.

"We never stole the boat," she admitted, "I put a down payment on it yesterday. I was going to wait until after dinner, but since you burned down the kitchen..."

"How did you know?" He asked.

"How did I know you and Henry love scheming behind my back? Or how did I know a captain needed his ship?" She smiled, "we can trade it, if you want something different."

He shook his head, "she's perfect."

"So it's a girl?"

"Of course it's a girl," he stated, "don't be silly."

"Should I be jealous?" She joked.

"Not at all," he smiled and kissed her forehead, "but I do want to know one thing."

"What's that?" She started fiddling with the zipper on his coat. A shiver ran up her spine when he put his lips to her ear.

"Are you going to help me christen this vessel or not?" He whispered, finishing with a nip on her earlobe.

"I think that's why I came down here in the first place," She said, "Just waiting on you."

"I love you, Swan," He growled in her ear.

"Yeah," she sighed as she melted into him, "I love you too."


End file.
